Turtle Id Help

[fisher16]

I found this guy this past weekend walking along route 20 while we were out trout fishing. I looked him up in a field guide that I have and I think he might be a small snapping turtle but not sure. He was camera shy and hissed at us a couple of times.

http://www.newenglandshad.com/photogallery/user-large/485.jpg

[grimfisher]

Looks like it could be a wood turtle. Here's a site I found with several pictures (but no info): http://www.feathersite.com/Turtles/woodturtle.html

If it is a wood turtle, you're in luck. In Mass., they're listed as a Species of Special Concern. Here's the fact sheet that they have on file: http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhfacts/cleins.pdf. I would strongly suggest filling out the "Rare Animal Observation Form" and sending it to the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program (NHESP) branch of MassWildlife. Here's a link to their page which has a link to "report rare species": http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhesp.htm

I also recently found a rare turtle recently, an eastern box turtle, and I'm in the process of sending all the information in myself.

[fisher16]

Grim I think you nailed it right on the head, after looking at those photo's I found another field guide that had a photo and compared them. I will contact the organization to report it.